I am pretty computer illiterate so if you need more info let me know but my computer has stopped recognizing that there is a cd in the d drive. when i go through my comp and d drive properties under hardware there is something listed as HDS722540VLAT20 that appears to be selected as the drive in use. When I try to change it to the cd drive it won't stay selected. For the HD... drive it shows the location as 0/0, so I am wondering if somehow that got selected as the drive but there is no such thing on my computer? I tried deleting it but that didn't work. I wasn't having any kind of problem with this until a few days ago. I installed Dreamwaever and Fireworks a few weeks ago but tried uninstalling those and that didn't work either. Please help me. I am so frustrated!!!
D: drive issues- not reading any kind of cd
- Thread starter jlrp
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I used google to check on the long number that you quoted. It appears that this is a Dell brand marking for several different parts.
Right click on my computer, then click on manage, then go to device mgr, then go to dvd\cd rom and click on that. You will see one or 2 listings. Right click and "scan for hardware changes" and see if that works. Wouldnt hurt to reboot after that.
If that fails then turn pc off, open case and unhook the cdrom from the system, take off the ide cable and the power cable to the cdrom. Then boot up your pc and do as above, go to dev mgr and "scan for hardware changes" in the dvd\cdrom section, even though your cdrom is not hooked up do this anyway.
Turn your pc off and hook up the ide and power cables to your cdrom and boot up, go to dev mgr and see what it says now.
Also see if it works now.
About dreamweaver and fireworks. Even if you do an uninstall these and most other programs leave pieces of themselves around and can still cause problems. After running uninstall you need to go to program files and look for a folder for that program and delete it. Thats only the first step, you also have to go to the registry and use the "edit\find" feature to search for dreamweaver and fireworks entries that are still there. You should find many entries and delete them. But only delete an entry if it mentions dreamweaver or fireworks and make sure you back up your registry before you start. When you open the registry, look in file\export. You click on export and save a backup of your registry to a floppy or usb hard drive, or any hard drive except i wouldnt save it to the main c:\ drive. If you arent familiar with registry editing perhaps find someone who is and they can show you how.
If in doubt about any entry in your registry then leave it there. You will find lots of entries that you will be sure about that you can delete. Its the registry that holds entries to these programs that can cause problems if not deleted when a program is uninstalled. I have proven this to be the case for sure on more than one occasion so i know its true. And if you check around you will find i am right about this. Still, its no guarantee that these entries have messed with your cdrom but its also certainly a possibility.
Right click on my computer, then click on manage, then go to device mgr, then go to dvd\cd rom and click on that. You will see one or 2 listings. Right click and "scan for hardware changes" and see if that works. Wouldnt hurt to reboot after that.
If that fails then turn pc off, open case and unhook the cdrom from the system, take off the ide cable and the power cable to the cdrom. Then boot up your pc and do as above, go to dev mgr and "scan for hardware changes" in the dvd\cdrom section, even though your cdrom is not hooked up do this anyway.
Turn your pc off and hook up the ide and power cables to your cdrom and boot up, go to dev mgr and see what it says now.
Also see if it works now.
About dreamweaver and fireworks. Even if you do an uninstall these and most other programs leave pieces of themselves around and can still cause problems. After running uninstall you need to go to program files and look for a folder for that program and delete it. Thats only the first step, you also have to go to the registry and use the "edit\find" feature to search for dreamweaver and fireworks entries that are still there. You should find many entries and delete them. But only delete an entry if it mentions dreamweaver or fireworks and make sure you back up your registry before you start. When you open the registry, look in file\export. You click on export and save a backup of your registry to a floppy or usb hard drive, or any hard drive except i wouldnt save it to the main c:\ drive. If you arent familiar with registry editing perhaps find someone who is and they can show you how.
If in doubt about any entry in your registry then leave it there. You will find lots of entries that you will be sure about that you can delete. Its the registry that holds entries to these programs that can cause problems if not deleted when a program is uninstalled. I have proven this to be the case for sure on more than one occasion so i know its true. And if you check around you will find i am right about this. Still, its no guarantee that these entries have messed with your cdrom but its also certainly a possibility.
Thanks Nork. I tried the first bit with no luck. Is it supposed to do something? It just says it is scanning plug and play compliant hardware and then that screen disappears and nothing else happens. Under the cd-rom through the steps you outlined it lists the atapi cdrw and not the other. does that have something to do with it? I haven't tried the other options yet but will as soon as I get the chance. Thanks again! I really appreciate the time you put into your answer!
N3051M
Posts: 2,094 +3
reinstall the cd drive - go back to device manager and uninstall it. reboot and it will reinstall itself then try again..
if you have access to another machine put it in there and try it
if its old and ageing it may as well be on its way out to the bin.....
have you tried to uninstall dreamweaver and fireworks via safe mode?
if you have access to another machine put it in there and try it
if its old and ageing it may as well be on its way out to the bin.....
have you tried to uninstall dreamweaver and fireworks via safe mode?
Sorry, but just to make sure we are both on the same page, would you tell me what you have. For instance, you have a c:\ drive, which is your main (primary) hard drive. Do you have another hard drive or just the one?
Do you have a cdrom only or a cdrom and, say, a dvd rom drive? Or a burner?
Or just one hard drive and one cdrom, standard Dell?
Do you have a cdrom only or a cdrom and, say, a dvd rom drive? Or a burner?
Or just one hard drive and one cdrom, standard Dell?
Okay, N3051M got in there while i was typing my reply. The first part of what he said i already explained that. Seems you tried that and got no results. He also mentioned uninstalling those 2 programs but it appears you already said that you did uninstall them. I went further and explained that even though you uninstall a program you still need to go to program manager and manually delete the folder and any files left over in it, plus the fact that even when all that is done you still may have to go and edit out entries in the registry that pertain to these 2 programs you deleted.
But before i gave more advice , I just wanted to make sure what you did have on your system before going further.
Any, yes, it could be that the cdrom drive is kaput, finished, dead. But im not sure of that quite yet, lol. Dont forget these drives cost under a dollar to make in the factories overseas, with the parts costing under a dollar as well, so they arent that well made, especially the cheaper ones but even some brand names as well. I received a dead cd burner from newegg.com once. They have a good name and a good rep but i just got a bad one. Of course they replaced it, but it shows you that they can be bad right from the factory. And they can go any time, in one day or they could last 10 yrs, you just never know with these drives, same goes with hard drives too. They are cheaply made as are most other computer parts. Its only the research that costs money in the computer field, not the actual parts. Except for cpu's and perhaps some high-end vid cards, cpu's especially are a bit more costly to make than most other parts.
All this rant is only to tell you that these parts do go bad and dont always last that long, so you could have a bad unit.
Best to try it in another persons computer. Even if the cdrom drive is bad it very likely wont do any damage to another persons computer, so its reasonable to ask a friend to do this for you. I have done it dozens of times, actually hundreds.
But before i gave more advice , I just wanted to make sure what you did have on your system before going further.
Any, yes, it could be that the cdrom drive is kaput, finished, dead. But im not sure of that quite yet, lol. Dont forget these drives cost under a dollar to make in the factories overseas, with the parts costing under a dollar as well, so they arent that well made, especially the cheaper ones but even some brand names as well. I received a dead cd burner from newegg.com once. They have a good name and a good rep but i just got a bad one. Of course they replaced it, but it shows you that they can be bad right from the factory. And they can go any time, in one day or they could last 10 yrs, you just never know with these drives, same goes with hard drives too. They are cheaply made as are most other computer parts. Its only the research that costs money in the computer field, not the actual parts. Except for cpu's and perhaps some high-end vid cards, cpu's especially are a bit more costly to make than most other parts.
All this rant is only to tell you that these parts do go bad and dont always last that long, so you could have a bad unit.
Best to try it in another persons computer. Even if the cdrom drive is bad it very likely wont do any damage to another persons computer, so its reasonable to ask a friend to do this for you. I have done it dozens of times, actually hundreds.
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